MOULTONBOROUGH — It took double overtime, a gritty comeback and a gut-wrenching final second, but the Moultonborough Academy girls basektball team is heading to Plymouth State.

Morgan Fuller scored 20 points, and the Panthers secured a 48-46 win over Portsmouth Christian when a would-be tying field goal was waved off at the buzzer. The wild finish booked a spot in the Division IV semifinals for No. 4 Moultonborough, which will face No. 1 Derryfield at Foley Gym in Plymouth on Monday night.

“It's a team win. That's all you can say,” Moultonborough coach Chuck Kenney said. “I've been feeling this way all year about them, and they showed me tonight what they're capable of doing. When the chips are really down, they didn't give up and they kept coming back at them.”

Meaghan Long scored 14 points and Larissa Leclair grabbed 14 rebounds in the loss for PCA, which closed its season at 15-5.

The Eagles nearly forced a third overtime when they picked off an errant MA inbounds pass and got the ball to Veronica Anatone on the wing. Anatone stepped into a shot that banked in off the backboard as the buzzer sounded, but with just 1.3 seconds for the play to materialize, the officials ruled immediately that the shot was released after the buzzer.

“It was a tough game,” PCA coach Herb Smart said. “It was a hard-fought game both ways. Moultonborough played all the way through. They didn't give up.”

Fuller shook off a tough first half and scored 16 points over the final 24 minutes. The star freshman was a constant as the Panthers stormed back from a 10-point deficit, losing three regulars to fouls in the process.

MA put the game in its hands with a key, three-point swing midway through the second overtime. Fuller hit the first of two free throws to tie the game at 42. She missed the second, but center Brittney Hale ripped down an offensive rebound and scored in traffic to push the Panthers up 44-42. Long answered seconds later with a pair of free throws, but MA never trailed again.

“They made their goal,” Kenney said of getting to PSU. “This is the first time in a long time Moultonborough kids have made their goal. That's one thing I'm really proud of.”

MA stretched its lead to 47-44 at the foul line, and with 41.5 seconds to play, the Eagles had two good looks for a three. Leah DiTommaso missed on a jumper from the corner, and after guard Brianna Colizzi slipped inside for a second-chance rebound, Long's straightaway try rimmed out and the Panthers cleared.

Hale made the second of two free throws to make it a two-possession game, 48-44, with 14.1 seconds left. PCA cut it back to two, 48-46, with a jumper by Long and called a quick timeout with 1.3 seconds left and Moultonborough inbounding from the baseline.

“The girls played well. They fought,” Smart said. “You can say 'what if, what if, what if,' but I thought I called that last timeout with at least 3 seconds left. But hey, we missed some free throws, we missed some layups at the end, and we put ourselves in a tough spot overall.”

The Eagles' best chances were in the first overtime. They missed an opportunity to pad a 38-37 lead with four consecutive missed free throws, and Fuller took advantage with a drive through the lane that had MA in front 39-38 with 45 seconds left. Long drew a foul on the ensuing possession and made one of two to tie the game at 39, and Yvonne Dean-Bailey blocked Fuller's potential game-winning shot at the buzzer to force a second OT.

PCA was dominant in the second quarter and held MA to nine points total in the first half. DiTommaso hit two 3-pointers in the second and Molly Deame scored four points off the bench to give the Eagles a 19-9 lead at halftime. Portsmouth Christian won the quarter 12-2 and out-rebounded MA 11-5.

But the Panthers stormed back in the third. Fuller scored five points and Ashley McDonald had a pair of hoops that helped pull MA back within a point.

“I could see in their eyes that they weren't going to give up,” Kenney said.

They didn't pull even until 58 seconds remained in regulation. Megan Uehlein came up with a steal off a full-court press and fed a cutting Fuller for a 32-32 deadlock. The teams traded free throws down the stretch — two by Long and two by McDonald — and both teams came up with a defensive stop in the closing seconds. The Panthers fended off Long's drive to the basket and PCA forced McDonald into a deep, 3-point heave at the buzzer that was off the mark.

McDonald finished with six points, five rebounds and three blocks for the Panthers and Hale added five points and eight rebounds. PCA got nine points and six rebounds from Dean-Bailey and eight points from DiTommaso.